Tom Brady's former girlfriend pregnant

Actress identifies Patriots QB as father

Bridget Moynahan, whose three-year relationship with Tom Brady ended late last year, is pregnant and says the New England Patriots quarterback is the father.

The New York Post, which first reported the pregnancy yesterday, quoted Moynahan's publicist as saying that the 36-year-old actress is more than three months pregnant and feeling "healthy and excited." The publicist, Christina Papadopoulos, later told US Weekly magazine that Moynahan's " former boyfriend Tom Brady is the father. Privacy and consideration is appreciated at this time. No further comments will be made."

Brady, 29, who has been dating supermodel Gisele Bundchen since shortly after he and Moynahan announced their break up in mid - December, could not be reached for comment yesterday, and his agent, Don Yee, did not return a phone call. It would be the first child for both Moynahan and the two-time Super Bowl MVP.

Patriots spokesman Stacey James said yesterday that he had not spoken to Brady, and that the team does not typically comment on "private matters."

"The only way I'd do that is if someone asked me to speak on their behalf, and that hasn't happened in this case," James said.

A former model best known for her role opposite Will Smith in the science-fiction thriller "I, Robot," Moynahan had made no secret of her desire to start a family. Asked last fall what she would like to be doing in five years, the actress, who grew up in Longmeadow, replied, "Definitely marriage and kids." Although the break up with Brady was said to be amicable, there were tabloid reports that Moynahan had become depressed and lost weight.

Last week, the statuesque actress, who stands 5 feet 9 inches tall , looked healthy at the New York premiere of her new film, "Gray Matters." Photographed at the premiere with model Marcus Schenkenberg, Moynahan is getting good notices for the movie, in which she plays a lesbian and shares a steamy, on-screen kiss with her co-star, Heather Graham.

Brady, meanwhile, has not missed a beat. Just before Christmas, the star quarterback began romancing Bundchen, the 26-year-old Brazilian beauty whose former boyfriends include actor Leonardo DiCaprio and surfer Kelly Slater. Brady and Bundchen have been photographed coming and going from the Victoria's Secret model's SoHo apartment building, and Brady is reported to have given Bundchen a pair of diamond earrings for Valentine's Day.

Over the weekend, according to People magazine, the couple was in Paris. They attended the Académie du Spectacle horse show at Versailles Saturday and then dined at Café de la Paix, which is apparently Bundchen's favorite restaurant in Paris.

The quarterback, who threw a last-minute interception against the Indianapolis Colts that ended the Patriots' season, was in Boston last week testifying in Charlie Weis's malpractice suit. Weis, a former offensive coordinator for the Patriots and now head coach at the University of Notre Dame, is suing two doctors from Massachusetts General Hospital , contending their negligence after his gastric bypass surgery nearly killed him.

The possibility that Brady might become a father came as a surprise to some of his fans yesterday. At Champions Sports Bar in Copley Square, where a crowd was gathered to watch the NBA All-Star Game, Kirsten Grudzinski said she was curious to know when Brady learned that Moynahan is pregnant.

"I thought he was an upstanding guy," said Grudzinski, 44, who lives in Barre , Mass . "I'm really shocked. If he didn't know, what can he do? But if he did, that tarnishes his image as the Golden Boy."

Grudzinski's husband countered that Brady would do the right thing for his former girlfriend.

"If he doesn't accept responsibility, that would be even more unbelievable," Mike Grudzinski said, finishing his beer.

John Stanton, visiting from Southington, Conn., said Brady's potential paternity could change people's perception of the All-Pro .

"From the things I've read about him, I'm really surprised," said Stanton after hearing about Moynahan's pregnancy. "I've always seen [Brady] as a clean-cut young man."

For a time, it appeared that Brady and Moynahan might settle down together. Last fall, after the actress moved to New York to tape the ABC series "Six Degrees," Brady bought a plush condo in the city, paying $14.5 million for a seven-room unit on the 70th floor of the Time Warner Building. But the relationship ended, and Brady decided he no longer needed the apartment, which features 12-foot ceilings and stunning views of Central Park. It is currently on the market for $16.5 million.

Given that the couple had been together nearly three years, Randy Gomes, who lives on Cape Cod, said he had expected Moynahan 's pregnancy before now.

"It'll be a beautiful child," Gomes said. "It has genetics in its favor."